ELTAS TECH TOOLS DAY LEVEL TWO: COLLABORATIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS

Games to play in your forum or blog

Pre-task thinking:

 What kinds of games do you play with adult classes?

 Which games make them actually apply their language skills?

There are lots of games you can play by inviting comments.

Text-based games:

Any kind of collaborative or prompted

writing can be a game as soon as you set
rules limiting what students can do, to get
their creative juices flowing:
 Add words (see at right)
 Change words

Picture-based games:
 Post a puzzling picture and have
students guess

What other constraints can you think of?

Task:
 Design a forum game for a class of
yours.
 Write the introductory text/ task.
 Post as a Ning discussion.
 Invite others to do your task.

More: http://askauntieweb.blogspot.com/2010/07/games-to-play-in-your-forum-or-blog.html

Wallwisher
Pre-task thinking:

 What are your first steps online with a class?

 How can you engage a group to use the web to communicate with each other?
 How can you make what people in your group say visible at a glance?
 How can you collect and save ideas/links in one place when your group is
connected by "nothing" but the Internet?

Anne Hodgson 1
ELTAS TECH TOOLS DAY LEVEL TWO: COLLABORATIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS

Wallwisher is an online sticky board. One person sets up, and anyone with the link can
add notes. Notes are limited to 160 characters.

Task 1:

Use this Wallwisher to post something you'd love to try out. Optionally, add a link to an
example. No need to register, just add your name so it's not anonymous. (If you're
registered your name shows automatically)

The link: http://askauntieweb.blogspot.com/2010/07/wallwisher.html

Task 2:

 Make your own wall.

 Go to http://www.wallwisher.com
 Register (name, email)...
 Please post your link so we can all post on your wall
More: http://askauntieweb.blogspot.com/2010/07/wallwisher.html

Storytelling: Tuxpi to edit a photo

Pre-task thinking:

 Every photo tells a story, they say. But doesn't it in fact usually tell several?
 So give your students two or more separate storytelling prompts made from one
photo, using simple photo editing techniques.

Tuxpi http://www.tuxpi.com is an online app you upload photos to and add photo
effects to. Crop, add frames and effects online, for slight variations to make a completely
different image.

Task 1: Task 2:

Look at the three pictures of Yvette, the
Headless Woman in three different
groups. Each group: "Say, who is Yvette?"
 Find a picture using Google
Advanced Image Search (select
"labeled for reuse with
modification")
 Edit it in Tuxpi. Download it.
 Open a new discussion in Ning.
 Upload/embed the picture.
Formulate a task.
 Respond to answers.
 Respond to someone else's picture
task.

More: http://askauntieweb.blogspot.com/2010/07/storytelling-tuxpi-to-edit-photo.html

Anne Hodgson 2
ELTAS TECH TOOLS DAY LEVEL TWO: COLLABORATIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS

A comprehension quiz using ProProfs Quiz Maker

Pre-task thinking:

 Can self-correcting online quizzes motivate learners, and if so, how?

 When would you refer to ones available online?
 When would you want to write one yourself?
 What would your students get out of creating a quiz and posting it for the others?

Barbara Sakamoto, writer of Teaching Village, is using the ProProf Quiz Maker, a simple
and free quiz-making tool, for her quiz series, "What you can learn from my PLN". You
can win Japanese sweets if you get the questions right! She's made a quiz on tech tools
and using technology in time for our ELTAS Tech Tools Day!

Please do her latest quiz at http://www.teachingvillage.org/

Then come back and create a quiz of your own using the software.
http://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school
More: http://askauntieweb.blogspot.com/2010/07/comprehension-quiz-using-proprofs-quiz.html

Make your own comix with Make Beliefs Comix

Pre-task thinking:

 What kinds of exchange fit into a 3-4 frame comix format?

 Would you prefer to have students make comix alone, in pairs or as a group?


Make Beliefs Comix is an easy

tool providing cute characters
for "children of all ages".

Create 2-4 frames, add given

characters, change their
expressions, position, add
speech and thought bubbles...
then print out and/or send as
an email.

http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/C
omix/

More:
http://askauntieweb.blogspot.com/2
010/07/make-your-own-comix-with-
make-beliefs.html

Anne Hodgson 3
ELTAS TECH TOOLS DAY LEVEL TWO: COLLABORATIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS

Comix starring you: Bitstrips

Pre-task thinking:

 We live in the age of me (or "mi", to quote Beaker.) Agree or disagree?

 Does self-portrayal or self-promotion play a role in your teaching/ your students'
learning styles?
 Brainstorm: What sort of stories could star your students?

Bitstrips http://www.bitstrips.com/ is the most creative and versatile online comix tool.
Time-consuming, in a good way. It’s a social networking site. Connect with other
Bitstrippers. The site lets you

 create a character that represents you – your avatar

 generally you make it look like yourself – lots of language potential
 give your avatar a role in a comic
 change every detail, from emotions and positions to props and backdrop
 find and add characters others have made to create dialogues
 create strips of various lengths

More: http://askauntieweb.blogspot.com/2010/07/comix-starring-you-bitstrips.html

Storytelling: A slideshow with Animoto

Pre-task thinking:

How do you use photographs for storytelling?

Animoto http://animoto.com/ is an audio slideshow application that, in its free form,

allows you to show up to 12 slides and a short video and add up to 30 seconds of audio.
You can also add a text intro. This tool is free and easy to use, so good for students,
especially for those who keep photos online.

Task:

Share pictures as a slideshow. Choose one of two varieties: Either

Anne Hodgson 4
ELTAS TECH TOOLS DAY LEVEL TWO: COLLABORATIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS

 add music to the slideshow, and write a short text as an intro or to post alongside.
 add a short audio file in which you speak about the pictures them (Audacity,
GarageBand etc. Go to Shelly Terrell’s workshop to learn more about your audio
options!)
More: http://askauntieweb.blogspot.com/2010/07/storytelling-slideshow-with-animoto.html

Xtranormal to script a short animated film

Pre-task thinking:

 What do your students get out of listening to and writing out dialogues?
 How is having puppets or cartoon characters speak the dialogue different from
your students’ speaking it themselves?
 How important is it to your students to present the fruits of their learning to
others?

Some uses for working with dialogues:

 review the language of natural conversation

 catch typical mistakes
 practice functional language

Added value in videos:

 become aware of body language and sounds in conversation

Xtranormal http://www.xtranormal.com is an easy to use "drag and drop 3D

animation" program. The "Text-To-Movie" function lets you or your students set the
scene, choose characters, type in a dialogue, add body language etc. and turn it into a
movie.

Note: While you are working on it and save it as work in progress, you can share it with
your students and collaborate in class. As soon as you want to publish it, it costs $$.

Task 1:

 We could edit my project together, the way you could with students.

Task 2:

 See what other teachers are doing and comment on their ideas. (Links: “More:”)

Task 3:

 Create a short dialogue yourself using Xtranormal. Make it as natural as possible.

More: http://askauntieweb.blogspot.com/2010/07/extranormal-to-script-short-animated.html

Anne Hodgson 5
ELTAS TECH TOOLS DAY LEVEL TWO: COLLABORATIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS

Google Docs Form/ Spreadsheet task suite

Here are a number of tasks that take some time and dedication, but really pay off. Google
Form/ Spreadsheet allows you to manage your classes and collect all of your data in one
place. For those with experience in Google Docs, the assessment test may still be news.

Google Docs Form/Spreadsheet for contact, surveys, feedback

Pre-task thinking:

Make a survey or contact form on your blog using Google Docs Form/Spreadsheet. This
form can also be emailed to users. It allows respondents to input information that is
then collected neatly in one spreadsheet. Some possible uses for this function are:

 Creating a general contact form

 Providing a sign-up form for specific courses
 Creating a needs analysis form for potential students
More: http://askauntieweb.blogspot.com/2010/07/google-docs-formspreadsheet-for-contact.html

Anne Hodgson 6
ELTAS TECH TOOLS DAY LEVEL TWO: COLLABORATIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS

An assessment test with Google Docs

Pre-task thinking:

Let's say you want to send clients an assessment test for them to do from home, and all
the data should be evaluated instantly, without you having to correct it. You would like
to have all of the data neatly in one table, easily available. This could be for a general
assessement test that you use again and again.
More: http://askauntieweb.blogspot.com/2010/07/assessment-test-with-google-docs.html

Google Docs: Self-correcting quizzes with instant feedback

Pre-task thinking:

If your goal is not to assess, but to give your quiz takers a quick-fix for formative self-
evaluation and motivation, they need at least the minimal feedback whether they got the
question right or wrong. I've changed the above assessment test into this type of quiz.
More: http://askauntieweb.blogspot.com/2010/07/self-correcting-quizzes-with-instant.html

GoogleDocs Form in Ning to collect vocabulary

Pre-task thinking:

 Does it make sense to keep a vocabulary list for the entire class?
 Or does each individual have his/her own list that can not be generalized?
 How do you collect vocabulary in your classes? Have you tried other systems?
 How does a digital list differ from having it in a notebook?

One of my company courses now has a vocabulary list on their Ning.

Task: Create a vocabulary list template using Google Doc Form.

More: http://askauntieweb.blogspot.com/2010/07/googledocs-in-ning-to-collect.html

Thanks for your attention! Good luck, have fun, and stay in touch!

Anne Hodgson 7